No light, no light
by Little Black Shadows
Summary: *SPOILER ALERT!* We all know that Noatak ran away and became Amon, but how exactly did that happen? How could he have possibly survived the snow storm and how did he learn to take away bending? When a girl named Reza moves to the Northern Water Tribe and meets Noatak, these events all fall into place. NoatakxOC story. -Sorry for the suck-ish summary!
1. Prolouge

**Ok, so I've had this story stuck in my head for quite some time now but I've been too lazy to actually type it out and stuff. Yes, this is an OC story dealing with how Noatak became Amon and stuff and it now takes place before he runs away but will eventually lead to that point and so forth. Sorry if it's a bit confusing I tried to make it so that it wouldn't be but this was just giving me a hard time to do so and I was trying to get this done before the new year's but I'm a little late. Again, I'm sorry if it is and please review to tell me what you think and feel free to criticize me as much as you want because this is like an exorcize to help me improve on my writing skills. Disclaimer: The Legend of Korra or any of its characters do not belong to me.**

**No light, no light**

**Prologue**

Makenna smiled down at her packed luggage and glanced to her left to see if her two daughters were done with packing their things.

Karina, the younger of the two sisters looked up and smiled at her mom, happy to see her with a positive expression on her face.

The older of the two, however, frowned as she grumbled while packing her things. She was the only one out of the family of four that was upset about moving to the Northern Water Tribe from Republic City.

"Hurry up, Reza!" the oldest sister heard her mother yell harshly at her. She turned towards her mom who was giving her a nasty look and rolled her eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, little girl!" Makenna was now stepping towards her, voice rising.

Karina knew that in the next few moments she would have to be the peace maker; Reza isn't known for her patience especially with the turmoil she had with the fight she had against her mom last night.

"I'm almost done,_ mommy_." Reza's voice dripped with venomous sarcasm as she gave her mother the evil eye.

Reza knew she shouldn't be encouraging the fight that was so close to breaking between them. 'Just four more years and I'll be eighteen, then I could get as far away as I possibly can from that thing called a woman. Four more years, just four more, c'mon, Reza, you can do it. Just hang in there…" Reza thought to herself as she proceeded with the packing of her things.

_"Don't _call me that." Makenna was now getting closer.

"Why? You are the one who gave birth to me aren't you?"_ 'Dammit! Why is it so hard for me to not give in to her? Ugh, and that was such a stupid comeback too!'_ Reza thought to herself as she saw her mother's face get angrier by her stupid comeback.

Now Karina stepped between them, a worried look on her innocent face "Please, you guys! Don't fight, today we're supposed to be moving, we don't have time for fighting! You don't want dad to get upset, do you?" Makenna stopped glaring at her when she heard her last sentence and regained her composure. She definitely did not want to get Renzon- her husband and Reza's father – on his bad side.

Reza smiled knowing her mother's weakness for her father. The threat of him would help her for a little while at least and give her some peace for the move. She knew that if Makenna did anything that harmed daddy's-little-one-and-only-firebender he would beat her senseless. It wasn't something to be happy about, that Reza could admit, but when she thought about how vicious her mother could be she closed off all signs of mercy.

"Are you almost done yet?" Makenna asked in a gentler tone, cautious of how she was treating her daughter, now with the thought of her abusive husband in her mind.

"Yeah, I'm done already." Reza said while picking up both her and Karina's luggage and turning for the front door.

Makenna grabbed Karina's hand while picking up her own luggage and mimicking her eldest actions.

With Renzon intruding her mind she started to see the similarities between him and his daughter. They had the same black Fire Nation hair, the same light pigmentation, and the same set of deadly firebending skills. Other than that, Reza shared the rest of her traits with her mother's Water Tribe ones, making her the only half-Water Tribe-half Fire Nation member of the family.

She was her mother's biggest mistake.

It seemed to Makenna that Karina was her only joy in life seeing that the nine year old was the only one in the family that didn't have any ties with Renzon, other than thinking he was her father.

Makenna considered Karina's birth the happiest day of her life as she looked back at the found memory_._

* * *

**_Flashback_**

_The newborn cried as her mother cooed her softly in her arms, great full for the safe delivery especially in the harsh weather conditions of the Northern Pole._

_Makenna looked up at Kato, the baby's father, and gave him a heart filled smile that he returned before retrieving her eyes to keep her easily suspicious husband from noticing._

_"Mom, can I see my new sister?" a pair of curious blue eyes tried to sneak a peek at the well swaddled bundle in her mother's arms._

_"I'm sorry, but I need to check the baby's health for just a few moments so will everyone be so kind as to wait outside while I do so? I'm afraid we need the privacy." Makenna's mother had asked. _

_Everyone in the room went to wait outside, grumpy that they had to wait in the cold weather._

_As soon as she made sure no one would be able to hear their conversation, Makenna's mother turned to her and blankly said "She's not Renzon's child."_

_"No"_

_"Whose is it?"_

_"Kato's," Makenna smiled at Karina who was now asleep in a warm bundle._

_"You know if Renzon finds out about this he'll-"she was suddenly cut off by "I know what he'll do, but he doesn't have to find out. Please mom, let this be our little secret." Makenna looked up at her mother with pleading eyes._

_"Fine," she sighed "but I want you to know; what you did was very reckless and stupid. You are married, you shouldn't be having affairs. Aren't you happy with your own daughter? I know Renzon isn't the best husband in the world, but you took the vows of never committing adultery against him and you do this? This is the biggest dishonor a wife could ever do to her husband, but don't worry, I'll keep your little secret."_

_"I know what I did was wrong, but remember, you _forced_ me upon Renzon, we were betrothed, it's not like I had a choice; we hardly knew each other! And you think I would be happy with _Reza_? She's just like him! How could I love something that reminds me exactly of the thing I hate most in this world? But thank you, mother, for agreeing to keep your silence."_

_Little did they know that Reza had peeked her head inside the tent out of curiosity of what her grandma was doing to her half-sister only to hear their entire conversation. She was filled with questions and overwhelming emotions that she didn't know how to deal with. Mom hated dad? Mom hated her? And dad isn't Karina's dad? She was frozen as she tried to comprehend all these things. At that moment she started to view her mother differently._

* * *

Reza looked back at her old home for the last time. She sure would miss Republic City; she hoped that the Northern Water Tribe will bring better things than Republic City.

**Like it? Hate it? Have any opinions or questions? Let me know by reviewing!**


	2. Chapter One: So They Meet

**Hey! So, new update! And new cover pic too! It was done by iEmilyxSnape on deviantart where she makes a whole bunch of cool pics like this one so you could check that out. A few things I forgot to mention in the prologue was that the title is named after the song "No Light No Light" by Florence and the Machine (my favorite band) and that for each chapter I try to find a song that will tie into whatever the chapter is about. For this one I chose "The Middle" by Demi Lovato for… reasons. I haven't gotten too much hype on this story so if you're barley reading this please review to leave any questions comments ect. so that way it would help on my writing. Anyways, enough of my babbling and on with the story!**

**No light, no light**

**Chapter One: So they meet**

"Get out!" Makenna screamed before pushing Reza out of their tent and shutting the flap that was the entrance to the home.

Reza stumbled into the cold snow and got up bawling her fists, tempted to firebend at her mother. She would have done it if she didn't notice a few curious glances her way, some startled at the sudden outburst of noise and public violence.

Her hands dropped to her sides as she felt the urge to cry and looked away. She realized she must've looked a mess with her usual duo of two braided hair loopies that draped to the left side of her face and connected to the traditional Water Tribe bun at the back of her head were now tangled and disheveled in what resembled a bird's nest.

Without thinking, she ran. She didn't know where she was going or when she was going to stop, she just kept running and running until she became out of breath and isolated from anyone else.

She looked at her new surroundings and realized that she wasn't too far from the little Northern Water Tribe village but was distanced enough so that anyone wouldn't accidentally stumble upon her.

There was an edge that gave the view of the sea and she assumed she was standing on a cliff.

_'Funny how ice and land works that way'_ she thought to herself as she sat on the edge and stared off into the distance, trying to cool off for a while before she returned home.

**Meanwhile, with Noatak**

Noatak sighed as his father announced to him and his brother that they were to go on another "hunting trip" in a couple of days.

He felt suffocated; his father had such high expectations, higher than he had on the last "trip", and he could tell his brother envied him, always being the favorite and all.

He needed to get out, even if it was only for a little while.

"Mom, dad, is it ok if I go out for a little while to practice my waterbending? I promise I won't be out for too long, I just want to brush up on a few things- if it's ok with you guys." Noatak asked, knowing his father couldn't resist if he mentioned practicing waterbending.

"Well-"his mother began but was cut off by Yakone who enthusiastically agreed to let him go.

Noatak walked out into the cold, heading to the one place where he knew that he could sit and think for a while.

* * *

Reza's eyes were red and puffy as she looked across the water landscape in front of her. She had finished crying a few minutes ago and if she thought she looked a mess before, she would look like a train wreck now.

She turned around as she heard someone walking towards her.

Noatak froze as he saw a young girl close to his age turn around. _'Whoa, this girl looks like she's been in a fight.'_ He thought as he noted her disheveled hair, red eyes, and series of small crescent shaped cuts scattered across her pale face.

Reza turned around blushing, she didn't want anyone to see her in this state but if she got up and left now she would just look stupid. _'He's probably just passing by.'_ She thought, trying to reassure herself. Unfortunately, she was wrong.

_'If I turn around and walk back now I'll just look stupid_.' Noatak thought to himself, uncertain of what to do. _'I'll just sit down and pretend she's not there, I need to think, I have to be away, just for a little while and I won't let some girl change that, whoever she is.'_

He sat a few feet away from her and brought his knees up to his chest and let his arms rest on them.

_'Now that I think about it, I've never seen her here before. Maybe she's a part of that family who just moved here_.'

_'I can feel his stare._' Reza thought, not daring to look in his direction. _'Maybe I should head back home- even if I really don't want to_.' she thought as she started to get up.

She looked down at Noatak and thought _'Should I say something to him? If I walk away I'd just seem weird but if I say something then I wouldn't know what to say!'_ she let out a little "Um" as she contemplated this. Noatak heard and looked up at her.

"Hi, I'm Reza." She blurted out as soon as she caught his critical gaze, sticking her hand out to him as she did so.

"I'm Noatak." He replied, shaking her hand briefly before letting it go.

"Um" she fidgeted as she awkwardly started to move away from him, unsure of what to do.

Noatak, noticing her discomfort, decided to lighten up the mood by starting conversation. "You're new here, right?"

Reza nodded while blushing fiercely but didn't say anything.

This was getting extremely awkward.

"So, where did you move from?"

"Uh, Republic City. We barely got here a few days ago, but we've visited from time to time, just never lived here." She said as she wondered if she should sit back down or not.

"Wow, it must be amazing. I've always wondered what the city would be like." Noatak thought aloud. This was not like him at all.

"Yeah, it's something. I miss it already." She was now trying to undo the tangled braids as she said this.

His attention was drawn back to her appearance as she did this.

She wasn't like anyone he had seen before; she looked Water Tribe but her skin was too light and her hair too dark. He furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what her ethnicity was.

Reza looked up from her lion tangles to see him giving her a strange look.

"Uh" she shifted her weight and dropped her hands to her sides.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" he said as he realized he had been staring. A slight blush spread its way across his face. How could he be so rude? His mother would bit his head off if she was there.

"It's ok; I know I look a mess." Reza sighed.

"No- it's not that. I was just-"

"It's ok." She cut him off "Well, it was nice meeting you, Noatak." She held out her hand for him to shake and smiled at him. _'I wonder how long I've been gone. Makenna is bound to have a fit!'_ she thought to herself while planning to go back to her new home.

"Yeah, you too." He said as he watched her walk off into the direction of the village.

_'I wonder how she got all those cuts on her face. She got in a fight by the looks of it but who would fight a newcomer?_' he wondered to himself as he looked off into the soothing landscape, thoughts of the upcoming "hunting trip" forgotten.

**Love it? Hate it? Any questions or comments? Let me know by reviewing!**


	3. Chapter Two: Almost Knowing

**Whoo! Updates! Sorry this took a while but don't worry, I came through! So, a few things I wanna say, 1) I realize Reza is a boy's name but oops, too late to change that! 2) I can't find a song for this chapter (maybe you could help me?) 3) I gave Yakonne the fake name Arnook because I couldn't find another name and I realize that it's the same name as the chief of the Northern Water Tribe but who remembers that? 4) I didn't put a disclaimer on the previous chapter so here it is: I do not own The Legend of Korra or any of its characters.**

**Chapter Two: Almost Knowing**

A slap to her face startled her awake.

"OW! What was that for?" Reza exclaimed, cupping her red cheek.

"Just get up." her mother said rolling her eyes.

"Ugh, you can hit any part of me you'd like but not the face, never the face!" Reza said while getting up from her sleeping mat and preparing for the day.

"Shut up, I need you to do a few things for me." Makenna coldly responded.

Reza grumbled as she got dressed.

"Ok, what do you want me do?" she asked once she was dressed and ready for the day.

"Start fires for me in those two fire places there and there." She said while pointing to two fire places in separate parts of their home.

"Can't you do it yourself?" Reza asked annoyed.

Makenna gave her a look and said "Do it." In a threating tone.

Reza rolled her eyes but did as she was told, shooting a fireball into the pit. She looked up to find her mother giving her a strange look.

"What?" she asked rudely.

"How long has it been since you've firebent?" she asked, still giving her a weird look.

This caught her off guard as she answered in a surprised voice "Uh, since we moved from Republic City, why?"

"Because your firebending is a bit… off."

Reza scoffed "And why do you care?"

"Because if we're stuck in a blizzard I would like to know that you could start and maintain fires for us, now I have a whole list of things for you to do, so you better have them done before the end of the day, got it?"

"Yes, mother." Reza responded sarcastically.

Makenna would hit her rite now if it wasn't so early in the morning.

* * *

**Later that day**

Reza was walking back to her home when she noticed a tall figure approaching her same destination.

_'Is that- could it be_?' Reza thought, quickening her pace. _'It is! Or it looks like it'_ She tried to go faster but the heavy Tiger Seal meat that she bought from the market place was slowing her down.

"Dad!" she yelled trying to get his attention. The man turned around, smiled, and waved at her.

When she caught up to him she bombarded him with questions, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out at sea? Did something happen to the ship? Does mom know you're here? Can you carry this for me?"

Renzon smiled at her while taking the meat out of her arms. "Not even a 'Hey, it's great to see you dad!' Or 'We missed you!' from you."

Reza gave a small chuckle "Sorry." She said blushing.

"It's alright, the ship hit something and we couldn't fix everything, so they sent us back until they could get some material to patch it up." He explained.

Reza's father worked on a cargo ship as a repair man, he would fix up the ship whenever needed with his lightning bending. Perks came with the job such as coming home with exotic gifts from traveling to different places, meeting extordanairy people, and learning new things. Of course, there was down sides such as not being able to stay home that often, but whenever he did come home he would always make up for it- well, for Karina and Reza that is.

Once they were home Reza yelled in a sing-song voice "Hey mo-m!"

"What is it?" Makenna yelled back in an annoyed tone.

"I have a surprise for you and Karina!" she continued in her sing-song voice.

"Karina is taking a bath right now, what do yo-"Makenna cut herself off as she saw Renzon standing in the doorway, holding Tiger Seal meat. Reza grinned ear to ear at her reaction.

"Renzon! What are you doing here so early? I thought you weren't supposed to come home until the end of the month!" Makenna said surprised.

Just then, a shivering, wet Karina ran to the living room to see what the 'surprise' her older sister was talking about.

"Dad!" she exclaimed and ran to him, trying to keep the animal skin wraps from falling off her naked form.

Her father put the meat down and caught her in his arms "Hey! Someone around here who's happy for me to be back!"

"Karina! Get back to your bath now!" Makenna shouted, worried for her daughter.

"Bu-but the water got cold." Karina shivered.

Makenna sighed "Reza could you- Renzon, could you please warm up the bath water for Karina?"

"Why can't Reza do it?" Renzon looked to Reza with furrowed eyebrows while Reza looked up to her mother with an annoyed expression.

"Reza's firebending has been a bit… off lately."

"Oh? How so?" Renzon turned to Reza with a questioning look.

"It's not that bad, I just haven't practiced in a long time." Reza said, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal.

"Ok then, show me." Renzon was giving Reza his full attention now.

Reza hesitantly did as she was told, knowing that it was better if she didn't disobey her father. She firebent a fire ball into the nearest fire place and looked to her father to see his reaction. He didn't look pleased.

After a moment of silence, and Makenna and Karina returning to the bathroom to wait for Renzon, he finally spoke. "We're going to work on your firebending tomorrow." Reza remained silent. "We'll get up early and work on it, so be ready." He left to warm up his daughter's bath water.

"Well I didn't know it was _that_ bad." Reza muttered to herself as she went to put the tiger seal meat away.

* * *

**The next day**

"Wake up, Reza." Reza felt someone shake her and she opened her eyes to see her father peering down at her.

She groaned and rolled out of her sleeping mat "Its morning already?" she groggily asked while still getting used to being awake.

"Be ready in about ten minutes." Renzon said before leaving her room.

"Ok, I'm ready." Reza said as she went to meet her father at the entrance of their home.

"Let's go." He said, leading them out of their house and into the cold morning.

"Why do we have to go so far?" Reza whined as she couldn't stand to walk in the freezing cold any longer.

"So that way you won't accidentally burn the entire village down with your sloppy firebending."

"Oh, come on, is it really that bad?"

Renzon stopped and gave her a startled look "Are you blind or something? It's worse than that, it's terrible!"

"Well it doesn't look that bad to me."

"Which adds to the reason that you need training and stay extremely far away from the village while doing so."

"Pft! whatever you say" Reza still didn't see what was so bad with her bending.

"Ok, here's a good place to stop." Renzon said.

Reza looked around but didn't see much- just a few cliffs, white snow in every direction she turned, and smudges of brown in the distance of what she assumed where a pack of some type of animals. She tried to look for signs of the village but all that surrounded them was snow that seemed to go on forever.

"I feel like we're in the middle of nowhere or we're gonna get lost here and never find out way back."

"Don't worry, I know the way back. Now, are you ready to fix your terrible bending?"Renzon said while getting in a firebending position and taking his gloves off.

"Yeah" Reza said, hesitantly tugging off her gloves, exposing them to the arctic air.

They had been practicing firebending for quite some time now and Reza was starting to lose focus. She noticed blue smudges far off in the distance along with brown ones. She couldn't help but notice what they were.

"Reza,_ focus_" her father broke her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry"

Now she heard strange noises coming from the direction of the smudges. What was that?

"Reza"

Now the brown things were moving- each one perfectly aligned in neat row in front of the blue things, whatever they were.

"_Reza_"

"Huh? Oh, sorry but do you hear that? Or do you see those weird blue and brown things over there?"

"I don't hear anything and where?"

"Over there" Reza pointed towards the smudges in the distance. There noise had defiantly gotten louder.

"Well don't pay attention to it then." Renzon said, eager to get his daughter to get her mind back on training. Then there was loud howl and the brown things suddenly dropped to the ground.

"You heard it right?!" Reza exclaimed.

Renzon sighed "Yes"

"But you didn't see it?" What was going on? Why were the brown things up in the air? Were they birds? No, there's no birds in the north pole.

"Can we check-"Reza was cut off by Renzon.

"If we check it out will you give your undivided attention to the training?"

"Yes!"

"Fine, put on your gloves and hood. Now, where are the blue and brown things?"

"You can't see them? Are you blind or something?" Reza quoted him jokingly.

"Don't mock me." Renzon said seriously.

"Hello there!" shouted a deep voice from ahead.

Reza and Renzon both looked up to see a water tribe man waving at them not too far away- they hadn't walked that far but whomever the man was walked towards them to greet them . Reza could see that behind him were two other people and the weird brown things slightly hovering above them, if only she could get closer to see what it was.

"Hi!" Renzon shouted back. They were getting closer to the man who was still walking towards them. Reza could almost make out what the brown things were. The blue things- she could see that there were two of them now- were obviously people. But what were those brown things? They were big and the noises didn't seem human so it was coming from them. If she walked a bit further she could make out what they were, but she couldn't. The man had caught up to them so it would seem rude if Reza walked past him just to see what they were.

"Hello" Renzon greeted the man "Snow is difficult to trudge through, isn't it?" They both gave a lighthearted chuckle.

"Well only if you haven't been living here for a very long time. Yet even then." The man gave a smile and looked at the two people in front of him. "You're the people who just moved here right?"

"Yes, although I won't be staying here long. I work as a repair man on a cargo ship so I get to stay here for a couple of days with my daughter Reza" he placed his hand on her shoulder "and my wife Makenna along with my youngest Karina."

"Well it's nice to meet the both of you, my name is Arnook and those are my sons over there, Tarrlok and Noatak." He gestured his hand towards the blue things in the distance. "Noatak, Tarrlok, get over here and meet our new residences!" Arnook shouted at his sons.

* * *

**Noatak's P.O.V.**

"Noatak, Tarrlok, get over here at meet our new residences!" I heard my father yell.

I looked up from the wolves I had been practicing bloodbending on and saw my father and two other people in the distance. I immediately let go of my bloodbending grip on them and quickly headed in the direction of the people. The wolves ran away, trembling with fear. I hoped nobody noticed them.

When Tarrlok and I reached our father I saw a Fire Nation looking man and a girl next to him. Her head was turned to the right; she was looking at something. I looked in the direction she was looking at and saw the wolves running away. Her expression was a mixture of confusion and curiosity as she furrowed her eyebrows at the sight.

She turned to me with the same look and I realized that she was the girl I had met a few days ago. I looked at the man standing beside her and saw a slight resemblance between the two; he must have been her father.

"This is my eldest son, Noatak" my father said gesturing to me "and this is my youngest, Tarrlok." Tarrlok gave a slight wave and smile at the two people in front of us.

"Hi, I'm Reza." The girl said, sticking out her hand for Tarrlok to shake "And you're Noatak." She said to me with a warm smile, ah, so she remembered me.

Our fathers talked for a while so Tarrlok, Reza, and I had been pushed out of conversation.

She took me by surprise when she said "So did you see those wolves running past us when we were introduced?"

"Um" I swallowed. I can't seem suspicious "no"

"That's weird; they were so close to you. Before you caught up with you dad I could've sworn I saw them in front of you. But then again, maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me, after all I did see them sort of hovering above the ground, maybe I'm just loosing it." She gave a weak laugh and looked at the ground.

"No, you're not losing it." I said, hinting at my bending.

"So, what are you doing here so far away from the village?" she changed the subject.

"I'm on a hunting trip. What about you?" I wondered.

"I'm practicing my bending with my dad."

I furrowed my eyebrows "But why so far away?"

"I'm a firebender." Oh, well that explains a lot.

We fell into an awkward silence after that. I wanted to ask her more questions but I didn't want to risk the chance of accidentally revealing something.

"Are you sure you didn't see or hear the wolves?" she turned to me hopefully.

"I heard them." I confessed.

"But you didn't see them?"

"I did." Damn! It sliped!

"Then why did you lie?"

"I don't know, I guess I thought you were talking about something else." I lied quickly.

"Ok" she said slowly. She wasn't buying it. "Then, did you see them hovering in front of you?"

I tried to look as confused as possible "What are you talking about?" I didn't want to embarrass her but nobody could know.

"You did!"

"What?" now she took me by surprise.

"You did, I can see it in your face!" her expression was light up and she was smiling as if she had solved a crime case.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" even I could tell I didn't sound convincing.

"Oh, stop lying to me and tell me the truth!"

I turned to her and opened my mouth…..

**Uh-oh! Cliff hanger! So, like it? Hate it? Any questions or comments? Let me know by reviewing!**


	4. Chapter Three: Behind Closed Doors

**Hey guys, so I know I've been gone, but I'm back and I brought a huge chapter with me! Hope you can forgive me and I'm so sorry! So, I don't have a song for this chapter (I think I'm gonna give up on that unless I already have a song picked out for the chapter, whatever) so use your imagination! Even though I know most of you don't even read the A/Ns (yeah, that's right, I know). So, here's my chapter and gift to you, hope you enjoy! Discalimer: I do not own the Legend of Korra, but I do own Renzon, Karina, Reza and Makenna, so ha!**

**Chapter Three: Behind Closed Doors**

_"Are you sure you didn't see or hear the wolves?" she turned to me hopefully._

_"I heard them." I confessed._

_"But you didn't see them?"_

_"I did." Damn! It sliped!_

_"Then why did you lie?"_

_"I don't know, I guess I thought you were talking about something else." I lied quickly._

_"Ok" she said slowly. She wasn't buying it. "Then, did you see them hovering in front of you?"_

_I tried to look as confused as possible "What are you talking about?" I didn't want to embarrass her but nobody could know._

_"You did!"_

_"What?" now she took me by surprise._

_"You did, I can see it in your face!" her expression was light up and she was smiling as if she had solved a crime case_.

_"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" even I could tell I didn't sound convincing._

_"Oh, stop lying to me and tell me the truth!"_

_I turned to her and opened my mouth_

I turned to her and opened my mouth but I was cut off by my father telling us it was time to start heading home.

She smiled at Tarrlok and me "Well it was nice chatting with you." I gave her a smile that wasn't too hard to force and waved goodbye to her and her father.

"It was nice meeting you all." Her father said, gesturing to all of us.

"Yes, we should get together sometime." My dad agreed. "Definitely" Reza agreed while giving me a look that said _'I'm not done with you, so don't think it's over yet'_. I made a mental note to steer clear of her.

Soon we both parted our separate ways and were heading home.

"Tarrlock, you need to be more careful next time, you almost cost us our little secret." Dad said in a threatening tone.

"I know, dad, I didn't mean to burst that many arteries in that wolf, I just need a little more practice to get this bloodbending right and I-"

"Don't you realize that your imprudence almost risked us?! Spirits, Tarrlock, if your mother wasn't getting suspicious I would beat the-"

"Dad, he didn't know that there were people nearby, if he did he would have been extra cautious." I said, trying to come to my brother's aid.

"Noatak, you know that that is no excuse for the carelessness your brother has! You two should know by now that you have to be cautious no matter what! Now hurry up before it turns to noon!"

And with that, our conversation was over.

* * *

**Meanwhile, with Reza**

"Well, that was unexpected." Reza said while trudging through the thick tough snow.

"Yes, but it's not uncommon here in the Water Tribe for people to go far out for hunting," Renzon said while leading Reza back to the village.

"I was talking about the wolves."

"Oh, I didn't know- no, don't step through there." Renzon stopped in his tracks and struck his arm out to block Reza from walking through the area he clearly wasn't going to let himself or Reza walk through.

"Why not?" Reza asked curiously.

"Because that's where we were practicing our firebending."

"How can you tell? And that doesn't really answer my question." Reza didn't see how he could tell where they were practicing. The scenery all looked the same to her.

"I can tell by the way the snow has gone softer, and do you see that snow a little over there? It has just a slightly different color from the rest of the snow and it's all in the same area that means some of it has gone mushy or has turned into water and if you step in it you'll wet your boots, so that's why you can't walk in it."

"Oh"

* * *

They finally made it back to their home a little less than half an hour later. Reza was just about to begin to strip off all her heavy coats when her mom came from her room and told her to stop. Reza was about to start yelling at her for being in her room when Makenna said "Reza, I want you to go to Kato's house and tell him not to come tonight." Reza froze.

Kato._ Kato_. The father of her sister. The one who has lingered in the dark all of Karina's life. Kato, the man her mother had an affair with- no, is having an affair with.

"You two are still…" Reza couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Things clicked together in her head like puzzle pieces as some things finally made sense. She looked at her in disgust.

"You tell your father about this and your life will be hell. Got it?"

Like that was gonna make a difference! She already lived in hell- or at least she considered herself to. Openly, Reza scoffed which made Makenna narrow her eyes.

"You tell him and as soon as he leaves you will not be able to step inside this house for a month." Reza could tell she was dead serious; she wouldn't put it past her to do something like that.

"Whatever," she grumbled "just tell me where he lives."

* * *

Reza stood hesitantly on Kato's doorstep- well, it wasn't exactly a doorstep; none of the homes in the Water Tribe had doors, just heavy pieces of cloth to cover any entryway in their homes.

With a shaking hand, she nervously opened his drape a little. She only met this man a few times and each time they did not speak other than the polite 'hello' and greetings of a goodbye. She wondered what he thought of her- after all, if it wasn't for her he could happily be living his life with the people he loved most, and those people would be Makenna and Karina; his true family.

Swallowing the lump in her throat she weakly called out "Um, Kato? I-uh need to- uh, my mom- er, Makenna wanted me to um tell you something." Spirits, would she stop sputtering! She looked and sounded like a fool!

"Can I help you with something?"

Startled, she jumped back to face the voice behind her "Kato! Er- yeah, my mo-M-Makenna wanted me to tell you not to come over tonight." She could feel a blush creeping up to her cheeks.

Kato's eyebrows furrowed "Did something happen?"

"No, um, my dad came back and we're er," Spirits, how should she word this? "We're um, gonna spend some family time." It came out sounding more like a question.

"Oh, I… see. Well, thank you for coming to tell me." With that he walked into his home and Reza hastily turned to go back to her own.

* * *

She walked inside while trying to tug off her heavy coats "Mom, I told Kato!" she somewhat shouted into the empty looking home.

Makenna emerged from her room with an angry expression and red face. Reza frowned and was about to ask why she has giving her that look when Renzon appeared from the room as well. Her face dropped and her eyes widened.

"What did you say?" he asked sternly and grabbed the top of Makennas arm "_What_ did she say?" he asked again, this time yanking Makenna a looking at her. She gasped at the pain "Renzon-"

"No! _What did she say?!"_ he gipped tighter and Reza could see rage bubble up inside him.

"Reza," she stiffened "don't lie to me. Now tell me: _what did you say_?" his voice was stern and controlled and it truly frightened her. She looked to her mother who had an expression of hurt and fear. She knew that if she lied it would make things worse, but if she told the truth then she would not be able to enter her own home for a month.

She weighed the options in her head. Renzon was stronger and a firebender, but he would leave in a few days meaning that her insurance to her own home would be gone. On the other hand, Makenna did know how to fight but Reza knew that in comparison to Renzon, she was the weaker one. But she would stay there when Renzon would leave, and then she would be kicked out of her own home. But she could fight her, it's not like she hadn't before. Plus, the beating he would give her if she lied would be far worse than Makenna's. With this somewhat reassurance in her head, she began to hesitantly speak.

"That I told Kato." Each word sounded choked.

"You told Kato _what_?" his voice was scarily calm, like when it gets quiet just before a major storm.

"I told Kato not to come." Her voice was so weak that she sounded like a little girl, a terrified little girl at that.

"You told Kato not to come over here? Tonight?"

"Yes." Why did she sound so guilty? He obviously wasn't going to do anything to her.

"And your mother told you to tell him, correct?"

"Yes."

"Reza, go to your room and make sure that Karina is in hers as well. Do not come out until I tell you otherwise, ok?"

She nodded her head. Oh, spirits _what was he going to do_?

She walked as quickly as she could to Karina's room where she then told her to stay put until told otherwise.

"Just don't come out until he tells you to, ok?"

"But why, what's happening?"

"Just _listen_, Karina!"

"Is dad…?" she didn't have to finish her sentence. Just by the look on her sister's face she had her answer.

"Can I stay with you?" she looked at her sister with so much innocence and fear that she couldn't say no.

That night in Reza's room the two sisters comforted each other against the screaming and awful noises. Although she wanted to, Reza did not cry like her sister. She had to stay strong- not just for herself but for Karina as well.

_'Four more years'_ she chanted in her head. _'Four more, just four more and then you can leave all this behind. You'll never have to go through this ever again.'_ She continued to comfort herself as she and her sister drifted off into sleep.

* * *

The next few days went by in frenzy. Renzon woke up Reza early each morning to practice firebending, they would come home by the afternoon, have lunch, then do other tasks throughout the day until night time fell and it was time for dinner. Then they would go to sleep and do it all over again.

Makenna had apparently gotten "ill" so the trio of the family had to do her work (hence the tasks they did throughout the day).

Reza felt guilty, but she knew she had it coming. And although she knew she deserved it she felt ashamed. Spirits, she hadn't seen her for three whole days!

When Renzon left Makenna finally came out. She looked a little worse for wear but she seemed to be doing fine- seemed to.

Renzon forgot that he brought gifts to his family and handed them to them before he left. For Makenna, she got new bands to hold her hair in place, the way she usually wears it. He got Karina a new doll that apparently wore the new fashion craze in the Fire Nation. And as for Reza, he got her a shirt that looked like some sort of blanket with two large pieces of silk attached to both ends and a slit in one side but after showing her how to put it on revealed to be quite a pretty blouse. They each thanked him for his gifts and wished him luck on the ship before saying goodbye.

* * *

A few hours passed before Makenna walked past Reza in the hallway and grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her down, wrapping more hair around her hand to get a better grip and to make the pull tighter.

Reza exclaimed out in pain at the sudden position she was in. Makenna chuckled at her.

"No one to run to now," Reza tried to pull away but it only made things worse.

"I told you I would make your life hell." Reza hissed out in pain as Makenna suddenly jerked her up. Her braided hair loopies were connected to a bun at the back of her head and her mother's hand was tightly wrapped around it causing pain not only to spread from the back but to the front of her scalp as well.

"Let me go, you psycho!" This only made her wrap her hand around even more.

"Don't call me that! You make everything go wrong! No wonder nobody loves you! Not even your own father loves you! And you know why?! Because you're a walking disaster!" She brought the fist that wasn't in her hair down on her head and started to hit her repeatedly.

No, Reza was not going to let this happen again.

Despite the pain in her scalp, she turned around and kicked her mother in the stomach. They both went down.

"You are _not_ going to do this again!" Reza shouted as she quickly sat up and pinned Makenna's arms above her head.

"You ruin_ everything_!"Makenna shouted in hysterics and dug her nails into Reza's hands hard enough to draw blood. Reza shrieked and pulled her hands away when Makenna puncher hard in the face and continued to beat her until her back hit the floor, which wasn't very long. Reza has her arms covering her face but it wasn't enough and Makenna's fists kept smashing into whatever came in contact with them.

Without thinking, Reza firebent fire into her hands and Makenna instantly drew away.

"_Get out_." Makenna said, panting.

"Gladly!" Reza replied. She walked out into the cold while panting and for the second time, ran away.

She didn't care if Makenna wouldn't let her back in, she didn't care how she looked and she didn't care where she was going.

The fight replayed over and over in her head and she finally processed the words that Makenna shouted at her. _'She was right'_ she thought _'no wonder I never had any friends, no wonder nobody likes me; I am a walking disaster._' She grew numb, unaware of where she was or where she was walking towards.

_'Stop throwing a pity party for yourself!'_ another part of her mind shouted at her _'Pull yourself together, don't you see that boy right there?!'_ Reza realized she stopped walking and turned to see that boy who she talked to a few days ago looking up at her with an unreadable expression. Slowly, she sat down beside him.

Noatak noticed her messed up hair and red skin as she stared straight ahead. She looked even more banged up from when the first time they met. He noticed her eyes kept skirting from the water below them to the cliff's edge just a few feet away from where she was sitting. His eyes widened as he realized what she was thinking.

"Don't do it."

She turned her head and he saw fire behind her blue eyes. "Why?" she asked in hardly above a whisper.

"Because it's selfish, think of all the people that would miss you."

She scoffed a little "If you were me you'd do the same."

Now it was his turn to scoff "Trust me, I have it a lot worse than you do."

"You can't know that."

"Well neither can you." Damn, he had her there.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to come off as…" she didn't finish her sentence but he understood what she was saying.

"It's alright; I shouldn't have been as biting either."

They fell into a silence then, neither one getting up to leave or trying to make conversation.

Reza wondered why Noatak was there. Come to think of it, this was where they first met. So does he come here often? And why is he here in the first place? She knew he came there to think or clear his head or whatever based on his distant expression, but why? Does the same thing happen to him as it does to her? No, he looked ok and well put together; he didn't seem to have recently been in a fight, in fact he looked quite attractive.

A blush crept into her cheeks as she realized she must've looked a mess compared to him. She began to try to brush her hair out with her fingers out of self-consciousness but they got caught where her hair loopies were. She sighed as she tried to pry the knotted, tangled braids apart and let out an "ow!" whenever she tugged too hard on a strand on her now tender scalp.

Noatak turned to see what Reza doing that was caused her to hiss in pain and "ow" every so often and chuckled a little at the girl beside him.

"Shut up." Reza said, smiling a bit.

"Need help?" he chuckled as he looked at her bird's nest of hair.

"No-ow! Yes" she replied shamefully as she blushed and looked at the ground. She knew that she couldn't get those tangles out without a mirror or brush and she didn't want to return home just yet.

Noatak raised his eyebrows in surprise but scooted over to her and started to pry at the tangled braids.

"Ow!" "Sorry"

"Spirits, did you get in a fight with a brush or something?" Noatak muttered under his breath as he tried his best to gently untangle the braids.

"Yeah, and the brush won." The both laughed a little at that.

"I've never seen hair loopies like this before." He told her as he noticed there were two braids.

"You mean braided?"

"No, I mean two to one side."

"Oh"

"You do know our hairstyles are supposed to represent something about ourselves, right?"

"Yeah, my mom-ow- gave me this hairstyle."

"Sorry. So do you know what yours is supposed to represent?"

"Does it look like I would know?" she chuckled a little.

"That's right, you're half Fire Nation."

"Whoa, you remembered."

He furrowed his eyebrows "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well it's not exactly a trivial piece of information."

"Well you are the only firenender in the whole village- well besides from your father but he left, right? It's good to know who she is."

It never occurred to her that she was the only firebender in the entire village, well besides from her dad. "Yeah, I guess I am- wait, how did you know he left? Ow!" she had turned her head to look at him but in the process ended up hurting herself.

"There aren't that many secrets kept in this village." He said while pushing her head back in place and continuing to undo the tangles.

"Ooo, so there are secrets in this village." She grinned playfully.

"Some" he said, hinting.

They continued to talk for the next few hours. Noatak untangling her hair and her talking with him, the both of them enjoying each other's company. Their conversation was never forced and they didn't go into awkward silences like the first couple of times they met. He eventually managed to untangle her hair as best he could but they still continued to talk. Before they knew it, the sun was starting to set and Noatak realized he had to start heading home.

"Hey, I gotta get going." He said while getting up.

"Oh- um, me too." She said, just barely noticing the darkening skies.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." He said with a smile on his lips

"Yeah, you're like the first person I actually talked to here."

"Well, you're easy and pleasant to talk to."

"Thanks?" she said blushing.

He smiled "I'll be here tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"If you want to talk tomorrow, I'll be here."

"Ok, what time?" she was so happy she finally had someone to talk to.

"A little bit after noon."

"Ok, guess I'll see you tomorrow, Noatak." she said smiling.

"You too."

They had both headed in different directions when Noatak turned and called out "Oh, and Reza?"

She turned "Yeah?"

"Don't let the hairbrush win next time!" he grinned.

She blushed and continued walking, waving her hand at him. Tomorrow she would go back and talk to him again. She was happy- for now. She realized that her mother was probably still upset at her and most likely wouldn't let her in. She sighed and continued walking, only one way to find out.

Noatak was still grinning. He realized that he hadn't smiled or laughed like this in a long, long time. Somehow, Reza had managed to break through to that isolated boy that he was now. He tried to stop grinning before he got home, his parents and brother would notice the drastic change in him if he didn't. With a deep breath, he wiped all emotion from his face. He highly anticipated the next day.

**Love it? Hate it? Any questions or comments? Let me know in that magical white box below!**


End file.
